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A judge in Madrid has ordered a company to rehire an employee it had fired because he spent two years in prison, arguing that the decision contravened the ex-convict’s right to rehabilitation in society.

In a sentence published on Wednesday, the judge backed the employee’s claim to have his job as a warehouse operative given back to him, as well as back pay to cover the period since he was freed in February.

Not allowing back to work someone who has been convicted and jailed constitutes discriminatory conductJudge José Pablo Aramendi

Judge José Pablo Aramendi ruled that it was clear the only reason the man, identified as D.A., was fired was the fact that he had been sent to prison.

“Not allowing back to work someone who has been convicted and jailed, thus paying for the crime committed, constitutes discriminatory conduct which is incompatible with […] the Constitution," the judge wrote.

He added that there was a “well-founded suspicion” that the worker, who had been with the company since 2005, had been fired “because there was no wish to have an ex-convict on the staff roster”.

The ruling does not state what crime D.A. committed.

The employer said that on being informed that D.A. had been jailed in March 2014, it proceeded to suspend his contract and stop his social security payments, informing the union that D.A. was to be laid off.

But the company did not attempt to inform D.A. of his dismissal by registered letter until July 17, 2015, the same day that the prisoner had visited the warehouse while on weekend leave.

D.A. would later make several other visits to the warehouse to ask about his job before being released, but he was told that his name was no longer on the list of staff.

On his release in February, D.A. wrote to the company asking to be allowed back to work, receiving a reply saying that he had already been fired.